What Is 'Extant'? The Show's Stars Explain The Complex Story

By Zach Seemayer 1:50 AM PDT, June 17, 2014

CBS's new sci-fi thriller series Extant has a lot going for it. It stars a brilliant cast -- lead by Oscar winner Halle Berry and supported by Goran Visnjic and Camryn Manheim-- and Steven Spielberg is serving as the show's executive producer.

Though it the show unlike anything we've seen on TV before, here's where it gets difficult! How exactly do you explain the story, without giving anything away, and still making it sound exciting?

ET's Brooke Anderson put the stars of Extant to the test at the red-carpet premiere of the show on Monday night in Los Angeles. She asked them to explain the series in under 15 seconds.

"It's incredible writing, it's a fantastic, futuristic, family drama," said Manheim. "It's a bit of sci-fi, a bit of adventure, a bit of thriller. It's unbelievable. You think you know what's happening here on Earth, but you have no idea how we are being controlled from up there."

In the series, Halle Berry plays astronaut Molly Woods who goes into space on a year-long solo mission, but when she returns home to Earth, she discovers that she didn't return alone. Molly is pregnant, and no one has any idea how it's possible.

"It is complicated," said Halle Berry. "There's complicated characters, that are dealing with issues that seem far away from an everyday life, but they are still very ordinary. It's about space; it's about the future. What is love? What is it to be human? Is it nurture versus nature when it comes to raising children? It is very, very complicated and I love my character because, again, it's a woman trying to survive, and I always gravitate towards those kind of people."